IT is not news that we in Britain live in a litigious society but when ambulance chasers become so adept at plying their trade that it affects the rest of society it is surely time to take stock.

Reports that schools in England and Wales paid out £2.7million in compensation last year to pupils whose mishaps included being struck by apples, falling off skateboards and getting into a scrap just demonstrate how far “me” has replaced “we” in our social contract.

Of course it is important that people have access to legal redress if they have been legitimately wronged. We should all have the right to be reasonably safe when going about our business and unscrupulous firms and public bodies who risk that safety just because they want to save money by cutting corners must be brought to book.

No right-minded person would argue against a 23-year-old woman, paralysed after being struck by negligently erected scaffolding, receiving considerable compensation but there is an ocean between legitimate claims and some of the spurious cases brought by chancers.

Certainly with cuts in legal aid and the decimation of respectable high street solicitors it is no wonder that the no-win, no-fee law shop has taking such hold. However this is only part of the problem.

We seem to have become accustomed to this culture of entitlement and expectation that we have forgotten what our parents and grandparents took for granted: people and especially children fall and get bruised in the rough and tumble of life.

Sadly, for too many, thoughts are directed to two questions: who can we blame and how much can we take them for? Whatever happened to dusting oneself off and getting on with it?

HAVING brought the nation to ruinous debt with reckless spending policies while in government it seems that Labour policy-makers are already on the hunt for ways to fleece hard-working people should the party win next year’s general election.

We must heed campaigner Christopher McGovern’s warning that the consequences for young boys with no male role models can be disastrous

The latest brainwave is to reduce the floor of the so-called mansion tax to just £400,000 and target the North of England. The proposer of this move may be a councillor but she is no lone voice shouting at an empty room.

Claire Reynolds is on the strategy board of Labour’s Progress think tank and married to shadow energy and climate change minister Jonathan Reynolds, a member of Ed Miliband’s inner circle.

Love him or loathe him who can argue with Nigel Farage when he says Labour has abandoned its heartlands and deserves t o lose their support?

THAT a quarter of a million primary school children do not encounter a male teacher or maintenance man should concern us all. True, one cannot fault local authorities who say the quality of a teacher is more important than gender but with so many youngsters living in single parent or even same-sex homes we must heed campaigner Christopher McGovern’s warning that the consequences for young boys with no male role models can be disastrous.

GLAM rocker Alvin Stardust has rediscovered a long-lost guitar now worth a cool £1.5million thanks to the signatures of his rock star mates. The My Coo Ca Choo singer had lost sight of the prized instrument for 30 years before learning his mother had kept it safe all those years. We all know, Alvin, that mothers are the real stars.